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Past Doctor Adventures #74
Doctor Who: World Game
The Doctor has been captured and put on trial by his own people - accused of their greatest interfering with the affairs of other peoples and planets. He is sentenced to exile on Earth. But now the truth can be told - the Doctor did not go straight into exile. First the Time Lords have a task for him. From the trenches of the Great War to the terrors of the French Revolution, the Doctor finds himself on a mission he does not want with a companion he does not like, his life threatened at every turn. Will the Doctor survive to serve his sentence? Or will this adventure prove to be his Waterloo?
285 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2005
2 people are currently reading
353 people want to read
About the author
Terrance Dicks
327 books220 followersTerrance Dicks was an English author, screenwriter, script editor, and producer best known for his extensive contributions to Doctor Who. Serving as the show's script editor from 1968 to 1974, he helped shape many core elements of the series, including the concept of regeneration, the development of the Time Lords, and the naming of the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey. His tenure coincided with major thematic expansions, and he worked closely with producer Barry Letts to bring a socially aware tone to the show. Dicks later wrote several Doctor Who serials, including Robot, Horror of Fang Rock, and The Five Doctors, the 20th-anniversary special.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 20, 2019
I’m really benefiting on revisiting these Past Doctor Adventures having now seen the whole of the classic era on DVD, there was only three of Troughton’s adventures available when this novel was first published!
Slotting in between The War Games and Spearhead From Space, this adventure is a wonderful nod to the Second Doctor era whilst helping to explain the inaccuracies of Troughton’s appearance during The Two Doctors in the 1980’s.
It’s a fun historical story focusing on an attempt to change the events of Waterloo, not only explain what happened during ‘Season 6b’ but this adventure serves as a sequel to another Dicks PDA ‘Players’.
It’s no wonder I didn’t fully appreciate it first time around!
Dicks has a nice fun writing style which sweeps you along whilst all the references landed perfectly.
It really felt like an extension to one of he’s many Target novelisations, the fact that it had a footnote mentioning Players was a nice touch.
It’s very continuity heavy romp that long term fans will lap up!
Slotting in between The War Games and Spearhead From Space, this adventure is a wonderful nod to the Second Doctor era whilst helping to explain the inaccuracies of Troughton’s appearance during The Two Doctors in the 1980’s.
It’s a fun historical story focusing on an attempt to change the events of Waterloo, not only explain what happened during ‘Season 6b’ but this adventure serves as a sequel to another Dicks PDA ‘Players’.
It’s no wonder I didn’t fully appreciate it first time around!
Dicks has a nice fun writing style which sweeps you along whilst all the references landed perfectly.
It really felt like an extension to one of he’s many Target novelisations, the fact that it had a footnote mentioning Players was a nice touch.
It’s very continuity heavy romp that long term fans will lap up!
October 7, 2013
At this point good ol' Terrance is like comfort food, giving us a delightful alternative to anything resembling experimentation or outside the box thinking, a nice cut and dried "Who" adventure, the way they used to make it for Mum and Dad.
Only this time he's giving us a story that should only exist in the world of fan-fiction. What gives?
For those who don't follow all the nuances and intricacies of the many sideroads of fandom, there's a branch centering on the end of the Second Doctor's tenure that suggests our views of him saying "No no no no no!" a million times at the end of "The War Games" was not the last time he graced the winds of time. Instead, these theories suggests, the the Celestial Intervention Agency segment of the Time Lords decided to use him in the name of plausible deniability, sending him out to fix their messes and giving him just a little more time to be Patrick Troughton. This is buffered by "The Two Doctors", a Sixth Doctor adventure that showed a clearly older Second Doctor and Jamie getting involved, which the Second Doctor cheekily suggested was the result of the Time Lords and not writer Robert Holmes simply not giving a crap about a thing like continuity (he's also the reason we have the "twelve regenerations" rule that everyone treats like gospel now, something else he probably made up as a throwaway line) and probably not figuring that a generation of fans would spend a lot of time dissecting it and coming up with stories for that mystical "Season 6B", as it's commonly called.
And then comes the BBC with their own story of how "Season 6B" got started, implying that it now has the stamp of canon, though one should remember that the none of the books were ever treated as set in stone (otherwise we'd have to explain how the Doctor lives through the plot of "Human Nature" twice) and they sort of dumped the story in a line of books that was about to be terminated anyway. Besides they had their shiny new crew cutted Doctor at this point, whose every exchanged glance with Billie Piper would give the world of fan-fiction new purpose again. Who cares whether the black and white Doctor of 1969 immediately regenerated into a man with a flair for velvety clothes or stuck around to have adventures that no one will ever hear about?
For me, personally, there's more poignancy in having his trial immediately end in the Second Doctor's figurative death. Not only does it mark the end of an era in the show, as it went from black and white to color, but also a change in tone, as the previously mysterious Doctor suddenly gained a home planet and people and went from being everyone's favorite mad uncle to Technological Science Hero. On some level the Second Doctor doesn't belong on Gallifrey, it's too structured for his cunning. But here we are, nonetheless, so let's see what we have.
A lot of the story is spent in simply explaining how we got to this point, which seems to undermine the very reasons for it in the first place. The Time Lord CIA (also called "The CIA") decides to get some usefulness out of their renegade and letting him enable them to have their noninterventional crumpets and eat them too, allowing them to gloriously intervene while proclaiming a desire not to intervene. The Doctor, sentenced to become Jon Pertwee, agrees to it anyway.
Unfortunately this is an excuse for the author to bring back his Players, the reappearance of whom actually elicited a groan of dismay from me. I don't know why he finds these people interesting, with their silly motto that sounds like the third rejected draft of a self-help group, their interchangeability, their weird desire to only play their games in the parts of Earth's history that the author has researched and their inability to play by their own rules, cheating on each other the first time things don't seem to go their way. Frankly, it's impossible to figure out why the Time Lords just don't put a stop to this nonsense right away and instead engage in a bunch of hand-wringing about intervening. On the other hand, anything that happens really only stays local to Earth, so it's also difficult to see why they even care. The Doctor, yes, but the Time Lords could probably let Earth go hang for all they care. It's just one planet.
So the premise isn't exactly gangbusters. However, this one I have to say won me over just a little bit. Maybe it's because I like the Second Doctor, maybe it's because it's aims are ultimately so charmingly old-school or maybe it's because there's enough history in here you could learn something and since I read "War and Peace" four months ago I have a basic working knowledge of this period of history. Essentially the Players are attempting to ensure that Napoleon wins, which means taking out all his obstacles like Wellington and Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar (the battle of Trafalgar kind of takes out Admiral Nelson but if you're a marksman aiming for a one-armed, one-eyed guy in a captain's outfit probably wasn't difficult, though I do give that person credit since everyone presumably was on boats). But instead of manipulating the circumstances of history so that Napoleon can capitalize on missed opportunities (and thus be much harder for the Doctor to stop), instead they go for more conventional means like assassination with bombs and guns (which, again, considering how they aren't supposed to be involved in their own games, shows you how much they care about rules).
This means the Doctor and his Time Lady companion (filling in the usual role of the inexperienced young lady the Doctor has to keep explaining things to) have to shuffle from crisis to crisis (with stops at cafes in between), figuring out which next weird convoluted scheme will be enacted next (the Players helpfully dropping hints, like a cosmic Riddler) and getting to hang out with the originator of the Napoleon complex, along with other famous figures in history. The stakes are rather high and we get a glimpse of the possible risk of failure but in all fairness the Player don't and never have made memorable villains. As the Doctor even points out, with their only goal to play a game, they don't have even the poorly constructed plans of the War Lords. They simply make trouble for the sake of making trouble, without any real endgame or point to it. According to their own motto, they don't even care if they win or lose, so why not just buy them all copies of "Age of Empires" and be done with it?
A story like this does the Second Doctor a disservice. He operates best when he plays the infiltrator, the scruffy guy you underestimate and whose bumbling about covers the fact that he's got you cornered six ways until Sunday and has ensured you don't realize it until it's too late. All the jumping around to put out fires is entertaining but there's no long game here, they simply plugging away at stopping things until the Players are tired of playing, or the book is over. Yet I can't dismiss it entirely. The local historical color is fun and after spending my youth reading almost every Target novelization, Terrance's prose style is like that old song on the radio you let keep playing even though you've heard it a million times. It goes down easy and is over before you know it, with nothing challenging to get in the way. But it's so breezy and the period detail is well placed that even with the lack of depth (or point) it reads like a history lesson you don't quite mind, unless you hate history. It means and aims are so modest that it can hardly even muster up the energy to offend and when it's all done, you think "That was a right pleasant adventure" and put this novel aside to reach for something meatier. It's a nice way to pass a couple hours and if you go into it with that mindset, you'll do just fine.
Interestingly, it also marks the end of an era in a different way: the last novel from Terrance featuring any of the Past Doctors. He's done a couple novels since, mostly in the BBC's Quick Reads line, but those all feature the Tenth Doctor and chances are we won't see an old style story like this from him again. Which in itself is sad in a way. He may not be flashy but he's dependable in a manner that few things are and while I may never rank any of this books as my favorites, at least I knew what I was getting when I read them. And I'm not ashamed to say, that hasn't changed here.
Only this time he's giving us a story that should only exist in the world of fan-fiction. What gives?
For those who don't follow all the nuances and intricacies of the many sideroads of fandom, there's a branch centering on the end of the Second Doctor's tenure that suggests our views of him saying "No no no no no!" a million times at the end of "The War Games" was not the last time he graced the winds of time. Instead, these theories suggests, the the Celestial Intervention Agency segment of the Time Lords decided to use him in the name of plausible deniability, sending him out to fix their messes and giving him just a little more time to be Patrick Troughton. This is buffered by "The Two Doctors", a Sixth Doctor adventure that showed a clearly older Second Doctor and Jamie getting involved, which the Second Doctor cheekily suggested was the result of the Time Lords and not writer Robert Holmes simply not giving a crap about a thing like continuity (he's also the reason we have the "twelve regenerations" rule that everyone treats like gospel now, something else he probably made up as a throwaway line) and probably not figuring that a generation of fans would spend a lot of time dissecting it and coming up with stories for that mystical "Season 6B", as it's commonly called.
And then comes the BBC with their own story of how "Season 6B" got started, implying that it now has the stamp of canon, though one should remember that the none of the books were ever treated as set in stone (otherwise we'd have to explain how the Doctor lives through the plot of "Human Nature" twice) and they sort of dumped the story in a line of books that was about to be terminated anyway. Besides they had their shiny new crew cutted Doctor at this point, whose every exchanged glance with Billie Piper would give the world of fan-fiction new purpose again. Who cares whether the black and white Doctor of 1969 immediately regenerated into a man with a flair for velvety clothes or stuck around to have adventures that no one will ever hear about?
For me, personally, there's more poignancy in having his trial immediately end in the Second Doctor's figurative death. Not only does it mark the end of an era in the show, as it went from black and white to color, but also a change in tone, as the previously mysterious Doctor suddenly gained a home planet and people and went from being everyone's favorite mad uncle to Technological Science Hero. On some level the Second Doctor doesn't belong on Gallifrey, it's too structured for his cunning. But here we are, nonetheless, so let's see what we have.
A lot of the story is spent in simply explaining how we got to this point, which seems to undermine the very reasons for it in the first place. The Time Lord CIA (also called "The CIA") decides to get some usefulness out of their renegade and letting him enable them to have their noninterventional crumpets and eat them too, allowing them to gloriously intervene while proclaiming a desire not to intervene. The Doctor, sentenced to become Jon Pertwee, agrees to it anyway.
Unfortunately this is an excuse for the author to bring back his Players, the reappearance of whom actually elicited a groan of dismay from me. I don't know why he finds these people interesting, with their silly motto that sounds like the third rejected draft of a self-help group, their interchangeability, their weird desire to only play their games in the parts of Earth's history that the author has researched and their inability to play by their own rules, cheating on each other the first time things don't seem to go their way. Frankly, it's impossible to figure out why the Time Lords just don't put a stop to this nonsense right away and instead engage in a bunch of hand-wringing about intervening. On the other hand, anything that happens really only stays local to Earth, so it's also difficult to see why they even care. The Doctor, yes, but the Time Lords could probably let Earth go hang for all they care. It's just one planet.
So the premise isn't exactly gangbusters. However, this one I have to say won me over just a little bit. Maybe it's because I like the Second Doctor, maybe it's because it's aims are ultimately so charmingly old-school or maybe it's because there's enough history in here you could learn something and since I read "War and Peace" four months ago I have a basic working knowledge of this period of history. Essentially the Players are attempting to ensure that Napoleon wins, which means taking out all his obstacles like Wellington and Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar (the battle of Trafalgar kind of takes out Admiral Nelson but if you're a marksman aiming for a one-armed, one-eyed guy in a captain's outfit probably wasn't difficult, though I do give that person credit since everyone presumably was on boats). But instead of manipulating the circumstances of history so that Napoleon can capitalize on missed opportunities (and thus be much harder for the Doctor to stop), instead they go for more conventional means like assassination with bombs and guns (which, again, considering how they aren't supposed to be involved in their own games, shows you how much they care about rules).
This means the Doctor and his Time Lady companion (filling in the usual role of the inexperienced young lady the Doctor has to keep explaining things to) have to shuffle from crisis to crisis (with stops at cafes in between), figuring out which next weird convoluted scheme will be enacted next (the Players helpfully dropping hints, like a cosmic Riddler) and getting to hang out with the originator of the Napoleon complex, along with other famous figures in history. The stakes are rather high and we get a glimpse of the possible risk of failure but in all fairness the Player don't and never have made memorable villains. As the Doctor even points out, with their only goal to play a game, they don't have even the poorly constructed plans of the War Lords. They simply make trouble for the sake of making trouble, without any real endgame or point to it. According to their own motto, they don't even care if they win or lose, so why not just buy them all copies of "Age of Empires" and be done with it?
A story like this does the Second Doctor a disservice. He operates best when he plays the infiltrator, the scruffy guy you underestimate and whose bumbling about covers the fact that he's got you cornered six ways until Sunday and has ensured you don't realize it until it's too late. All the jumping around to put out fires is entertaining but there's no long game here, they simply plugging away at stopping things until the Players are tired of playing, or the book is over. Yet I can't dismiss it entirely. The local historical color is fun and after spending my youth reading almost every Target novelization, Terrance's prose style is like that old song on the radio you let keep playing even though you've heard it a million times. It goes down easy and is over before you know it, with nothing challenging to get in the way. But it's so breezy and the period detail is well placed that even with the lack of depth (or point) it reads like a history lesson you don't quite mind, unless you hate history. It means and aims are so modest that it can hardly even muster up the energy to offend and when it's all done, you think "That was a right pleasant adventure" and put this novel aside to reach for something meatier. It's a nice way to pass a couple hours and if you go into it with that mindset, you'll do just fine.
Interestingly, it also marks the end of an era in a different way: the last novel from Terrance featuring any of the Past Doctors. He's done a couple novels since, mostly in the BBC's Quick Reads line, but those all feature the Tenth Doctor and chances are we won't see an old style story like this from him again. Which in itself is sad in a way. He may not be flashy but he's dependable in a manner that few things are and while I may never rank any of this books as my favorites, at least I knew what I was getting when I read them. And I'm not ashamed to say, that hasn't changed here.
June 20, 2013
Rating: 4 and a half stars
One of the more interesting things about the mangled timeline of Doctor Who is the "missing season" of Patrick Troughton adventures, which popular speculation says occurred between the TV serials The War Games and Spearhead From Space. This missing season, called "Season 6b," explains away some continuity problems, such as the aged appearances of the Second Doctor and Jamie in The Two Doctors, as well as Jamie's knowledge of the Time Lords, among other things.
Longtime Doctor Who series writer and book author Terrance Dicks embraced this "Season 6b Theory" wholeheartedly, and one of the books tied to this theory is World Game, which picks up immediately after The War Games and reveals what really happened to the Doctor following his unpleasant trial.
As a fan of the Second Doctor, I actively seek out any stories involving him, but this one in particular interested me not only because of the Season 6b connection, but because the open-ended nature of The War Games' conclusion helped the "missing season" seem very possible, and I wanted to know precisely what the Doctor went through when he regenerated into the Bessie-driving dandy we met afterward.
Dicks writes a good story, pairing the Doctor up with an inexperienced snoot named Serena and letting him loose in France during Napoleon's reign. We get some nice continuity nods, including an unexpected but very fun tie to The Five Doctors, and though one does not need to be terribly familiar with Doctor Who history to enjoy this book, such knowledge helps increase such enjoyment immensely; I had a big, goofy grin on my face every time such a nod came along.
While the pacing isn't perfect (there are some rather slow bits here and there), this is one of the better Second Doctor stories to be published, and one of the strongest in the Past Adventures line. It is also, if I'm not mistaken, one of the last as well, which is strangely fitting since it stands alongside The War Games as the end of an era. We don't get to see Jamie or Victoria or Zoe, but Serena makes a decent enough companion that we can tolerate their absences while enjoying the Second Doctor's antics. Since Dicks wrote for the Second Doctor on TV all those years ago (including The War Games), he has no trouble nailing the Second Doctor's personality and manner of speech, and this reads like a true Troughton adventure. Though it has a direct tie to the earlier book Players, one does not need to read that book to follow this one.
Any fan of the Second Doctor should give this book a try. It doesn't suit everyone, but for people like me who enjoy the Doctor's romps through Earth's history and references to the show's canon, this is a solid read.
One of the more interesting things about the mangled timeline of Doctor Who is the "missing season" of Patrick Troughton adventures, which popular speculation says occurred between the TV serials The War Games and Spearhead From Space. This missing season, called "Season 6b," explains away some continuity problems, such as the aged appearances of the Second Doctor and Jamie in The Two Doctors, as well as Jamie's knowledge of the Time Lords, among other things.
Longtime Doctor Who series writer and book author Terrance Dicks embraced this "Season 6b Theory" wholeheartedly, and one of the books tied to this theory is World Game, which picks up immediately after The War Games and reveals what really happened to the Doctor following his unpleasant trial.
As a fan of the Second Doctor, I actively seek out any stories involving him, but this one in particular interested me not only because of the Season 6b connection, but because the open-ended nature of The War Games' conclusion helped the "missing season" seem very possible, and I wanted to know precisely what the Doctor went through when he regenerated into the Bessie-driving dandy we met afterward.
Dicks writes a good story, pairing the Doctor up with an inexperienced snoot named Serena and letting him loose in France during Napoleon's reign. We get some nice continuity nods, including an unexpected but very fun tie to The Five Doctors, and though one does not need to be terribly familiar with Doctor Who history to enjoy this book, such knowledge helps increase such enjoyment immensely; I had a big, goofy grin on my face every time such a nod came along.
While the pacing isn't perfect (there are some rather slow bits here and there), this is one of the better Second Doctor stories to be published, and one of the strongest in the Past Adventures line. It is also, if I'm not mistaken, one of the last as well, which is strangely fitting since it stands alongside The War Games as the end of an era. We don't get to see Jamie or Victoria or Zoe, but Serena makes a decent enough companion that we can tolerate their absences while enjoying the Second Doctor's antics. Since Dicks wrote for the Second Doctor on TV all those years ago (including The War Games), he has no trouble nailing the Second Doctor's personality and manner of speech, and this reads like a true Troughton adventure. Though it has a direct tie to the earlier book Players, one does not need to read that book to follow this one.
Any fan of the Second Doctor should give this book a try. It doesn't suit everyone, but for people like me who enjoy the Doctor's romps through Earth's history and references to the show's canon, this is a solid read.
October 15, 2017
What a difference a reread makes. Reading this through this first time it seemed a remarkably fun and interesting piece of Doctor Who continuity. The second time it feels more like a mess, very pedestrian, poor characterisation and a disturbing amount of sexual threat aimed at Lady Serena. Only the pacing and the easy writing keep it above a 1.
January 10, 2018
What if instead of going straight to earth CIA get him to do a job a really twisted job without Jamie or Zoe but on his own.
This brilliant Troughton story that could have been made & could explain the Five Doctors
This brilliant Troughton story that could have been made & could explain the Five Doctors
January 7, 2012
A must read for any Classic Doctor Who Patrick Troughton fan...everyone else, not as much.
October 15, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. It was some version of a page turner, and as a history lover and a Doctor Who lover, this was the perfect book for me.
For story and story flow and dialogue and interest and all the other important things, I’d rate this 4 stars (yes, I’m aware that this sentence was a grammatical nightmare). However, there were a few redundant words that bugged me just enough that I’m calling this a 3.5 star read. One in particular was the phrase ‘past history’, as well as using a word twice in a sentence where it would only be needed one (sometimes the second time would be a synonym, but it was to the same effect). This is an amazing read, and these moments are few and far between, however I feel that it brings this down just below 4 stars.
I understand this may be a rather off putting review, especially for those of you who, like me, have a particular hatred for redundant words. I assure you yet again that this book IS WORTH READING if you like a good old fashioned Doctor Who story with an extra helping of history, which, let’s be honest, who doesn’t?
For story and story flow and dialogue and interest and all the other important things, I’d rate this 4 stars (yes, I’m aware that this sentence was a grammatical nightmare). However, there were a few redundant words that bugged me just enough that I’m calling this a 3.5 star read. One in particular was the phrase ‘past history’, as well as using a word twice in a sentence where it would only be needed one (sometimes the second time would be a synonym, but it was to the same effect). This is an amazing read, and these moments are few and far between, however I feel that it brings this down just below 4 stars.
I understand this may be a rather off putting review, especially for those of you who, like me, have a particular hatred for redundant words. I assure you yet again that this book IS WORTH READING if you like a good old fashioned Doctor Who story with an extra helping of history, which, let’s be honest, who doesn’t?
July 12, 2024
An exciting and pacy sequel to 'Players', featuring the same nefarious time meddlers as they turn their attention to Napoleon. It has fun with the period, playing with what might've happened if Napoleon's fate had been altered, and it's also a great continuation of the Second Doctor's "Season 6B". The story takes some daft turns, but I really enjoy the way the Doctor is written here. I also enjoyed Serena as a companion, although she is essentially just Romana I from Season 16.
June 6, 2021
I'm solidly 50/50 on this one. I loved like 75% of the book, and the last quarter just perplexed me. It had a lot of promise, but just didn't end right.
September 11, 2024
Did not finish. The writing was just a little too twee for me. The new season 6B stuff that big finish is doing is not perfect, but I buy it more than this.
August 3, 2022
Most the reviewers in this forum really liked this book, yet it has only a 6 rating overall. Peculiar. I note that Dicks' other original novels are also in the mid-range of the ratings. I suspect that maybe people see the name, know the connection to Doctor Who of old, and expect something more than they get. Whatever the reason, the book is definitely better than a 6. This novel is very "Terrance Dicks." If one has followed his interviews and read some of his various work, one will notice that Dicks sees himself as a "jobbing" writer, someone editors can count on to produce a workmanlike job within the budget. Dicks clearly also admires other writers with similar credentials, often answering the question of why he chose this or that writer during his days as script editor and producer that so-and-so was a working professional of known abilities and thoroughly reliable.
"World Game" delivers what Dicks does well. Fast-paced, easy-to-read, and amusing to just the right degree, the novel makes for an entertaining pastime. It is not deep, nor all that original, but it does have its background and rationale carefully worked out. Doctor 2 is in prison, an "oubliette," and awaiting his execution when the Celestial Intervention Agency calls upon him to complete a mission for them in return for some different kind of sentence. Someone is messing around with the lives of Napoleon and Wellington (and Nelson), and the Doctor must discover who it is. He gets a new assistant, a beautiful and untrained Gallifreyan aristocrat. The setup allows Dicks to tie up many loose ends in the series, most especially the rationale for "The Two Doctors." He also gets to use bits and pieces from his Doctor Who scripts. He gets to indulge his love of British history. He gets to borrow from other Who writers, such as the Immortals from "Enlightenment" and the psychic paper from the new series. And he gets to replay and revise, in a way, "The Key to Time." (It is interesting that Dicks most "interferes" with the scripts of Robert Holmes, one of his preferred writers and the only other writer from the classic Who period of equal involvement and stature.)
As far as it goes, there are indeed things to question or dislike in the book. As one reviewer here remarked, there is a bit too much plot by convenience. Also, his companion Serena is not as interesting a character as she could have been. The villains are rather flat and obvious. Yet, given what Dicks has set out to do, the book works rather well. In a way, this is perhaps the best example of classic Who as a novel. Apart from the battle scenes, the story could have been produced on television. However, Dicks has used the novel format to widen the scope and especially to provide the historical background that justifies its setting. The plot runs like a television serial, but the book reads like a novel.
Readers should take "World Game" for what it is, an entertainment fun most of the time, serious when it has to be, and subtly educational.
"World Game" delivers what Dicks does well. Fast-paced, easy-to-read, and amusing to just the right degree, the novel makes for an entertaining pastime. It is not deep, nor all that original, but it does have its background and rationale carefully worked out. Doctor 2 is in prison, an "oubliette," and awaiting his execution when the Celestial Intervention Agency calls upon him to complete a mission for them in return for some different kind of sentence. Someone is messing around with the lives of Napoleon and Wellington (and Nelson), and the Doctor must discover who it is. He gets a new assistant, a beautiful and untrained Gallifreyan aristocrat. The setup allows Dicks to tie up many loose ends in the series, most especially the rationale for "The Two Doctors." He also gets to use bits and pieces from his Doctor Who scripts. He gets to indulge his love of British history. He gets to borrow from other Who writers, such as the Immortals from "Enlightenment" and the psychic paper from the new series. And he gets to replay and revise, in a way, "The Key to Time." (It is interesting that Dicks most "interferes" with the scripts of Robert Holmes, one of his preferred writers and the only other writer from the classic Who period of equal involvement and stature.)
As far as it goes, there are indeed things to question or dislike in the book. As one reviewer here remarked, there is a bit too much plot by convenience. Also, his companion Serena is not as interesting a character as she could have been. The villains are rather flat and obvious. Yet, given what Dicks has set out to do, the book works rather well. In a way, this is perhaps the best example of classic Who as a novel. Apart from the battle scenes, the story could have been produced on television. However, Dicks has used the novel format to widen the scope and especially to provide the historical background that justifies its setting. The plot runs like a television serial, but the book reads like a novel.
Readers should take "World Game" for what it is, an entertainment fun most of the time, serious when it has to be, and subtly educational.
October 7, 2013
The 2nd Doctor's written stories did not end with Doctor Who and the War Games, unlike the televised stories. This is the last 2nd Doctor story in the chronological order of books I am reading, except for the multi-Doctor stories. It is ironic finishing the 2nd Doctor stories, with the rumors of possible two or more lost 2nd Doctor stories being found in time for the 50th anniversary.
I was looking forward to this book, since it goes into the fan speculation area of an additional season for the 2nd Doctor. Due to inconsistencies later in the televised stories, when he returns in Doctor Who: The Two Doctors. At first when I started reading it was fun, but then became irritated with some situations that were not needed.
The story started off strong picking up after the Doctor's trial. We see the offer that is made to him to avoid death. He is then sent off to see who is causing interference in Earth's history. Some interesting items are used.
The Doctor gets a working TARDIS, a companion who is equal with him, and the Doctor blending into the historical time line, instead of bumbling through it, or standing out like a sore thumb. Very good concepts, until Terrance Dicks introduces things that made me groan.
The problem is he has to bring up items from other Doctor Who stories, that just did not needed to be include. For some reason he opted to make a reference to The Eight Doctors, toss in a random vampire for one chapter, and place the Raston Warrior Robot just to try increase tension. By adding the last two, he just weakens the strengths they bring in their other stories.
The other part that he did wrong was change the character of the Doctor. For the first we see the Doctor go into the future to see what happens so he can change the past. This is very inconsistent with how the Doctor behaves and takes away from the story even more.
One last item he does that works sort of is he tries to tie events back to the story Doctor Who: Players. It is nice to encounter a portion of the story that has consequences later. The problem is a chunk of that is told in Players which is not covered in the story, except for a brief section. This makes for a slight gap in this story.
So should you read this or not? It has an interesting concept and when focused on the plot, goes well. It gets bogged down due to some situations being shoe-horned into the story. It a story with possibility that does not go anywhere significant.
I was looking forward to this book, since it goes into the fan speculation area of an additional season for the 2nd Doctor. Due to inconsistencies later in the televised stories, when he returns in Doctor Who: The Two Doctors. At first when I started reading it was fun, but then became irritated with some situations that were not needed.
The story started off strong picking up after the Doctor's trial. We see the offer that is made to him to avoid death. He is then sent off to see who is causing interference in Earth's history. Some interesting items are used.
The Doctor gets a working TARDIS, a companion who is equal with him, and the Doctor blending into the historical time line, instead of bumbling through it, or standing out like a sore thumb. Very good concepts, until Terrance Dicks introduces things that made me groan.
The problem is he has to bring up items from other Doctor Who stories, that just did not needed to be include. For some reason he opted to make a reference to The Eight Doctors, toss in a random vampire for one chapter, and place the Raston Warrior Robot just to try increase tension. By adding the last two, he just weakens the strengths they bring in their other stories.
The other part that he did wrong was change the character of the Doctor. For the first we see the Doctor go into the future to see what happens so he can change the past. This is very inconsistent with how the Doctor behaves and takes away from the story even more.
One last item he does that works sort of is he tries to tie events back to the story Doctor Who: Players. It is nice to encounter a portion of the story that has consequences later. The problem is a chunk of that is told in Players which is not covered in the story, except for a brief section. This makes for a slight gap in this story.
So should you read this or not? It has an interesting concept and when focused on the plot, goes well. It gets bogged down due to some situations being shoe-horned into the story. It a story with possibility that does not go anywhere significant.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2017
World Game is an important Doctor Who story, I guess.
Besides giving Russell T Davies psychic paper, Dicks tries to make sense of some of the weird Second Doctor plot holes. However, let's be clear, tacking a random explanation for "The Two Doctors" at the end of boring story about The Doctor getting involved in Napoleon's career is not groundbreaking.
Nobody but Dicks is excited about his somewhat-fleshed-out-idea about the Players. Why are they playing "The Game"? We don't know. What's their motivation? We don't know. Why do I keep reading new Terrance Dicks novels? I DON'T KNOW.
Besides giving Russell T Davies psychic paper, Dicks tries to make sense of some of the weird Second Doctor plot holes. However, let's be clear, tacking a random explanation for "The Two Doctors" at the end of boring story about The Doctor getting involved in Napoleon's career is not groundbreaking.
Nobody but Dicks is excited about his somewhat-fleshed-out-idea about the Players. Why are they playing "The Game"? We don't know. What's their motivation? We don't know. Why do I keep reading new Terrance Dicks novels? I DON'T KNOW.
June 4, 2008
Second Doctor. The Doctor has been convicted of temporal interference by the High Court of the Time Lords and sentenced to death. However, the Celestial Intervention Agency, the infamous intelligence arm of the Time Lords, has a deal for him: commutatation of sentence if he goes on a mission for them.
The Doctor is sent to Earth during the time of Napoleon. Shadowy figures are meddling in history, playing a game in which historical figures are the game pieces, making the Doctor's occasional forays into human affairs seem insignificant.
The Doctor's brief is to merely observe and report back to Gallifrey, but he soon finds himself embroiled in the game. He helps save the young Napoleon from execution during the aftermath of the Terror, after one side had the future emperor charged with treason. Then he must prevent the assassinations of Wellington and Nelson at the hands of other game players. The tangle of plots and counterplots continues until the climactic battle at Waterloo.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Like a lot of Doctor Who stories, it raised the issues, ethical and practical, of intervening in history and in other cultures (concerns that are not confined to fiction).
It also didn't hurt that the story was set in the Napoleonic era, which I find fascinating. The portrayal of historical figures and events was fairly well done. Studying history has spoiled a lot of historical fiction for me, but there weren't any big ahistorical clinkers to speak of in this book (Time Lords and killer robots excepted). I especially liked the portrayal of Wellington. Terrance Dicks captured his brusque, matter-of-fact arrogance and set the "Iron Duke's" disgust of war against Napoleon's egomanical pursuit of glory. As Wellington said, "Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained."
The challenge of setting the story in historical events is that it gives a big fat clue that the Doctor will prevail in the end, foiling the plans of those that seek to alter history for fun. (If you don't know who won at Waterloo by now, I pity you!) Yet, it's a testament to the storytelling that there is still an element of suspense. As Wellington said, "It was a damned close-run thing."
The Doctor is sent to Earth during the time of Napoleon. Shadowy figures are meddling in history, playing a game in which historical figures are the game pieces, making the Doctor's occasional forays into human affairs seem insignificant.
The Doctor's brief is to merely observe and report back to Gallifrey, but he soon finds himself embroiled in the game. He helps save the young Napoleon from execution during the aftermath of the Terror, after one side had the future emperor charged with treason. Then he must prevent the assassinations of Wellington and Nelson at the hands of other game players. The tangle of plots and counterplots continues until the climactic battle at Waterloo.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Like a lot of Doctor Who stories, it raised the issues, ethical and practical, of intervening in history and in other cultures (concerns that are not confined to fiction).
It also didn't hurt that the story was set in the Napoleonic era, which I find fascinating. The portrayal of historical figures and events was fairly well done. Studying history has spoiled a lot of historical fiction for me, but there weren't any big ahistorical clinkers to speak of in this book (Time Lords and killer robots excepted). I especially liked the portrayal of Wellington. Terrance Dicks captured his brusque, matter-of-fact arrogance and set the "Iron Duke's" disgust of war against Napoleon's egomanical pursuit of glory. As Wellington said, "Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained."
The challenge of setting the story in historical events is that it gives a big fat clue that the Doctor will prevail in the end, foiling the plans of those that seek to alter history for fun. (If you don't know who won at Waterloo by now, I pity you!) Yet, it's a testament to the storytelling that there is still an element of suspense. As Wellington said, "It was a damned close-run thing."
May 12, 2013
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2079089.html#cutid3[return][return]we have a brief return to Carstairs and Lady Jennifer in the First World War, and then the Second Doctor and new Time Lord companion Serena, dipping in and out of the timeline of the Napoleonic wars, trying to prevent history from being diverted by the Players. This is all set during Season 6B (as is the Second Doctor section of Players) with the Doctor sent on mission by the Celestial Intervention Agency in order to diminish his sentence to exile and forced regeneration. It ends with the Doctor accepting the mission which we know as The Two Doctors. Lots of Napoleonic romping, particularly with the very steampunkish submarine which was indeed designed for Napoleon by American inventor Robert Fulton, though some liberties are taken with the historical timeline. [return][return]The climax comes just before the Battle of Waterloo, and one inaccuracy tweaked my Belgian sensibilities: the Doctor walks from the denouement at the Duchess of Richmond's Ball to the Parc de Bruxelles via the Place Royale, which is rather a long way round. (The ball, as far as I can tell, was held roughly on the spot which is now the location of the car park for the City 2 shopping centre.)[return][return]It's an interesting case of Dicks reinterpreting bits of later continuity to fit what he might have done in 1969, had he been thinking about it then; the inclusion of psychic paper (the book was published in 2005, one of the last of the Past Doctor Adventures range, and after New Who had started) is perhaps the most dramatic example. Serena is perhaps a thought experiment as to how Romana might have been done in the black and white era, and the Players themselves are an odd combination of the War Lords and perhaps the Eternals. (The Sarah Jane Adventures took the concept and tweaked it into the Trickster, who operates on a much more personal rather than historical level.)
January 1, 2012
World Game is the long awaited sequel to The War Games, and prequel to Spearhead from Space. It is the first Season 6B story to be released in a BBC produced line. (not the first BBC licences line, though.) Of all the Doctor Who books I have read over the years, this one is probably the second best, only failing to beat Who Killed Kennedy.
[Spoilers Ahead]
The book begins with the Second Doctor on trial, but as a surprise twist, instead of being sentenced to exile, he is sentenced to death. He sits, awaiting his fate. He thinks of his eighth incarnation, who he had met during his last adventure, (The War Games, The Eight Doctors) and remembers how his eighth self had told him it would be all alright, but then remembers that if he dies his future self will go with him. Now, I find this a very good way to start out the book. It seems to completely ignore the trial scene in the War Games, which I find incredibly interesting, although it does make this all a bit confusing.
Meanwhile, the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency, what else would it be?) begins to notice issues within the space time continuum. They hire the Doctor, along with his new time lady companion. It's a very good book with a lot of good plot, and a lot of classic enemies, including a Vampire and a Raston Warrior Robot! How cool is dat?
Just a stray warning, keep a copy of Players on hand. In between two of the earlier chapters, The Doctor leaves, and the book suggests that Players is set here. Actually, it actually says it! I haven't yet read Players, so I can't help you there... I'll be reding it soon!
Besides that, the story is still good, not very confusing surprisingly, and entirely original, all this while still making a bridge from The War Games to The Two Doctors to Spearhead from Space.
[Spoilers Ahead]
The book begins with the Second Doctor on trial, but as a surprise twist, instead of being sentenced to exile, he is sentenced to death. He sits, awaiting his fate. He thinks of his eighth incarnation, who he had met during his last adventure, (The War Games, The Eight Doctors) and remembers how his eighth self had told him it would be all alright, but then remembers that if he dies his future self will go with him. Now, I find this a very good way to start out the book. It seems to completely ignore the trial scene in the War Games, which I find incredibly interesting, although it does make this all a bit confusing.
Meanwhile, the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency, what else would it be?) begins to notice issues within the space time continuum. They hire the Doctor, along with his new time lady companion. It's a very good book with a lot of good plot, and a lot of classic enemies, including a Vampire and a Raston Warrior Robot! How cool is dat?
Just a stray warning, keep a copy of Players on hand. In between two of the earlier chapters, The Doctor leaves, and the book suggests that Players is set here. Actually, it actually says it! I haven't yet read Players, so I can't help you there... I'll be reding it soon!
Besides that, the story is still good, not very confusing surprisingly, and entirely original, all this while still making a bridge from The War Games to The Two Doctors to Spearhead from Space.
February 8, 2011
Past Doctor Adventure (PDA) with the second Doctor. The story is rather a stroll compared to the other two Players books, hence the disappointed reaction from reviewers who expected the three books to form a trilogy simply because they have the same foe. Nevertheless I enjoyed it. Not really one for the newcomer, as there are some devices dating from various books--unless you don't mind some rather wild random elements.
This is one of the author's best-composed books--unusually strong on character, dialogue that at critical points is so well chosen that it doesn't need further characterisation, and a story that continues to hold interest despite that it's really a series of mini-plots chained together. You can really hear the second Doctor in some scenes. The author also does a brilliant job of reminding alert readers about things mentioned earlier without bashing over the head. This one makes me want to read more Terrance Dicks books! The book's only two inherent flaws (which may be major for some readers) are the chained mini-plot structure which doesn't really require much protagonist initiative until the last fifth, and the occasional ambushing with elements from other books.
This is one of the author's best-composed books--unusually strong on character, dialogue that at critical points is so well chosen that it doesn't need further characterisation, and a story that continues to hold interest despite that it's really a series of mini-plots chained together. You can really hear the second Doctor in some scenes. The author also does a brilliant job of reminding alert readers about things mentioned earlier without bashing over the head. This one makes me want to read more Terrance Dicks books! The book's only two inherent flaws (which may be major for some readers) are the chained mini-plot structure which doesn't really require much protagonist initiative until the last fifth, and the occasional ambushing with elements from other books.
May 21, 2011
This was an enjoyable read and one I found much more rewarding than the first Doctor Who novel I read from BBC Books, which concerned the First Doctor. This was written by Mr. Dicks who was very integral to the Doctor Who storyline in the past. In fact, it was like reading an episode that should have been on the television. It was simply that good. It was a great historical story and featured the absolutely beloved Second Doctor.
One of the best things about this novel is that incorporated a number of items from the long, rich Doctor Who history: psychic paper, Raston Warrior robots, vampires, the Timescoop, the Death Zone, etc. It was fantastic!
One of the best things about this novel is that incorporated a number of items from the long, rich Doctor Who history: psychic paper, Raston Warrior robots, vampires, the Timescoop, the Death Zone, etc. It was fantastic!
November 4, 2011
I decided to finally get around to this, in between gaps in my work-day paperwork hell...and I wasn't disappointed. Fun, boy's-own action/adventure, spun by the grand master himself. This is Terrance Dicks indulging in a love of history, a love of playing with continuity (especially the mysterious season 6b), and stabs of excitement...and THAT'S just the sequence with the sub torpedoes and the Raston Warrior Robot! It's easily the best Terrance Dicks "Doctor Who" novel from the BBC's original Past Doctor range.
August 5, 2015
This would have made a brilliant episode of Doctor Who. I did like Serena's character, but I thought that she got relegated to the role of companion rather quickly and I would have like to see her do more. Interesting premise, and it did make me think on the various roles of key figures in history.
August 22, 2015
While an interesting epilogue to the Second Doctor's tenure, the ending of this novel falls a little flat, and doesn't really connect to the Third Doctor's beginning, which was an odd choice, considering the writer actually WORKED on the show and could have done a fine job tying it together. It just .... veered off, giving the ending a rather jarring finish.
March 17, 2020
A moderately entertaining end to the second Doctor novels. There are too many coincidences and things that wrap up too neatly for this to be a high-quality novel. After a series of frankly awful to simply bad novels the last two novels in the second Doctor series were a nice way to say goodbye.
September 27, 2012
The history in this book is quite strong. Beyond that it's an OK read.
April 9, 2015
Quite entertaining and a nice read for a quick Doctor Who fix. I loved the history included in the story, I certainly learnt a few things!
March 21, 2016
This is a fun historical based novel featuring the 2nd Doctor. Was a lot of fun.
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